It is well known to use trash compacting and storage units at commercial and residential locations to compact and temporarily store waste materials therein. The environmental and economic advantages of disposing of waste in this manner are well known.
A number of previously known trash compacting and storage units contain only a single waste storage compartment for storing waste material therein. The waste storage compartment is of a fixed size. Compacting and storage units of this type can not separately store recyclable and nonrecyclable waste products therein. Accordingly, these compacting storage units hamper the extremely important efforts to improve the environment by recycling waste materials. Moreover, the capacity of the storage compartment of the above type of compactors cannot be readily varied to accommodate differing needs of individuals and business proprietors.
It has previously been proposed to provide a transportable waste storage container with two side-by-side storage compartments. Recyclable waste is stored in one of these storage compartments and a different class of waste is stored in the other storage compartment. Each of these waste storage compartments includes a single opening for receiving and dispensing waste materials. These openings remain exposed. The waste storage containers detachably connect to a transfer unit having two rams, each communicating with only one of the waste storage compartments. The transfer unit includes two charging boxes, each operably associated with a storage compartment and a corresponding ram. Waste is deposited in the appropriate charging box and directed into the associated waste storage compartment by the corresponding ram. The container is transported by a truck having a specially designed chassis. The aforementioned waste storage container has numerous disadvantages associated therewith. Specifically, the container requires the use of two rams for compacting waste materials stored in the separate compartments. This significantly increases the cost as well as the overall size of the waste compacting and storage unit. Further, a piston and cylinder assembly is associated with each ram. The use of two piston and cylinders assemblies further increases the size and the cost of the compacting unit. Finally, the size of the each of the two side-by-side storage compartments is fixed.
The fixed size or storage capacity of the side-by-side storage compartments is undesirable for a number of reasons. One such is that the size of the storage compartments cannot be adjusted to accommodate the needs of an individual or commercial establishment. More specifically, one business proprietor's needs may require a greater storage capacity for nonrecyclable waste materials than recyclable waste materials. Accordingly, this business proprietor will prefer to have a larger nonrecyclable waste storage compartment than recyclable waste storage compartment. Previously known compacting units could not be adapted to accommodate this proprietor's need. Rather, the nonrecyclable waste storage compartment would readily fill up while the recyclable waste compartment remains only partially filled. The compacting unit at this point must be transferred to a waste station to dispose of the waste material stored therein, even though the recyclable waste storage compartment is only partially filled. Of course, the same holds true for a business proprietor whose needs are such that a greater size recyclable waste storage compartment is desirable.